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Headline today: Quorum of Cloud Nine to hear appeal against Magnagate Ban

The quorum of Cloud Nine will gather today to hear the appeal against the shutdown on Magnagate Technology. Officially patented by HAPPI in 11031, the company developing it was shuttered and all development was halted only a month after the acquisition. Espeon and Umbreon of Mist, the disgruntled inventors of the technology, sued on grounds of fraudulent conduct but were ruled against by the Quorum. Today's trial will seek to reverse that ruling.

~ The Lively Town Times

~\({O})/~

26

Interlude the Second

Rejected

~\({O})/~

Cloud Nine Courtroom

~Espeon and Umbreon~

The domed central building on the floating airship of Cloud Nine had a large, double-door arched entrance that lead through a pristine hall. The hall led through another pair of massive double doors, into a lofty room of wooden stands and seats that were too pristine to have been used regularly. This was one of the many courtrooms of Cloud Nine, and it was currently filling out with pokemon of all shapes and sizes.

It wasn't long before the room's wooden stands and seats were full up, filled with hushed chatter, throat clearing, feather rustling, and an artificial, stuffy silence. Two pokemon sitting together behind one of the two ground-level stands in the front of the room observed the pokemon filing in quietly.

"Weren't Alexis and Elliot supposed to be sitting on the Quorum for this trial?" Espeon whispered to Umbreon, looking at the five podiums at the far end of the room that stretched over everything else—one for each continent. On the podium marked for Sand, an emboar sat with his hooves clasped. The podium for Grass had an elderly whimsicott, who represented the continent in name only. The one on the inner left, marked for Mist, was empty. "I know we haven't been on the greatest terms for some years, but they're the most likely of everymon here to rule for us."

"They recused themselves a day before," Umbreon whispered back. "Impartiality reasons."

"Sounds more like they just didn't want to see our faces again," Espeon muttered.

"It's not like they can put that on a public billboard," said Umbreon.

The clacking of a wooden gavel sent a wave of silence throughout the courtroom. All heads swiveled towards the five podiums, which were now occupied.

"The court will now come into session," a ninetales spoke, hopping gracefully onto the centermost podium. His voice carried throughout the room. "Today we hear the appeal of Espeon and Umbreon of Mist, versus the Helping Adventurous Pokemon Prosper Institute. Are all representatives and parties present?"

Next to Espeon and Umbreon, a scrafty quickly sat up, trying to keep the stack of papers he held in his hand all straight.

"P-present!" he said in a scratchy voice, fumbling the papers into something resembling a clean pile and setting them down on the desk in front of Espeon and Umbreon. "Scrafty of Pokemon Paradise, representing Espeon and Umbreon of Mist!"

"Also present," came the much smoother voice of a krookadile, standing in front of the opposing seat with his arms folded. "Representing the Helping Adventurous Pokemon Prosper Institute."

The double doors behind them suddenly opened with a loud clang, and in walked the pokemon who was supposed to be sitting in that empty stall. The sylveon walked in, letting her cape a shade of eye-catching blue trail on the floor behind her. Sparkleglimmer calmly took a seat behind the stall, staring straight ahead aloofly.

Eyes were once again directed towards the Quorum. The seat the furthest on the right, marked for the Water Continent, remained empty. The one marked for Mist was now occupied by a stern-looking owl pokemon.

"Standing in on this Quorum for Alexis and Elliot of Mist is Noctowl Humphrey of Pokemon Paradise," Ninetales announced. "The court will now hear the defendants' appeal."

Scrafty stepped forward, picking up the papers once again and fumbling with them until he found the right one. After a few seconds of shuffling, he ended up dropping them all over the floor. Muttering an apology, he stooped over to pick them up. Espeon and Umbreon could feel the disdain radiating over from Sparkleglimmer's side of the court. It wasn't a good look.

Managing to get all the papers back in his claws, Scrafty stood up straight again. He cleared his throat, and began to read off the one at the top of the stack:

"Five years ago," he read aloud, reciting a speech Espeon had helped him prepare in advance, "The Helping Adventurous Pokemon Prosper Institute acquired the rights to patent Magnagate Technology and the company that designed it… under the agreement that they would fund its development. However, less than a month after the acquisition, HAPPI abruptly shuttered the company's doors, and put the technology under wraps. This court previously ruled in favor of HAPPI on the grounds that the move, while disingenuous, did not violate the contract. This appeal seeks to convince the court that HAPPI should be held responsible for its own disingenuous conduct in regards to a contract that it wrote."

"If I may," a smooth voice suddenly cut in, severing Scrafty's speech before he could properly begin the next segment. Everymon looked over to Sparkleglimmer's stall, where the sylveon had just spoken. She cleared her throat dantily, then rose to speak.

"While it is true that HAPPI shuttered doors on Magnagate technology development," she began, "It was not done disingenuously as this appeal claims. The agreement between HAPPI higherups was such that Magnagate technology offered too many liabilities in the wrong paws to be publicly distributed. Imagine the implications of such technology out in the wild. Entire dungeons, vanished. New ones created from thin air. Unlegislated travel on a scale that we have never seen, and opportunities for use as a weapon. I think this quorum would agree that making such technology publicly available is—"

"We're not asking for it to be publicly available," Umbreon cut in. "We're asking for the rights to develop it. Privately. As agreed by our contract."

"And as this court has previously ruled," said Sparkleglimmer. "Our contract does not and has never stipulated an indefinite continuation of funding and development after the agreed upon trial period of a month."

"But that's disingenuous to the contra—" Espeon seethed.

"Behavior you may perceive to be disingenuous does not hold weight in the face of the law," Sparkleglimmer cut in. "You have so far failed to present any new evidence or information to sway the minds of this Quorum. I would like to posit that this entire trial has been a waste of many pokemons' time."

'Because you didn't give us a chance,' Espeon wanted to growl. Sparkleglimmer had cut them off mid-appeal, and everymon in this court knew it. But not a single pokemon had spoken up.

"Enough," said Ninetales, stamping the gavel with a tail once more. The room quieted down. "Is there anything else to say?"

"There is," Umbreon levelly announced, cleanly moving on to the next part of their prepared speech. "Helping Adventurous Pokemon Prosper Institute proposes the idea that introducing this new technology into the world would be too dangerous to consider. Espeon and I propose the opposite. On Mist and on Sand, entire cities face being swallowed up by expanding mystery dungeons within the next couple of decades. Supply ships from Grass find their journeys around the upper and lower capes of Air more extreme and perilous with each year. Emera mines on Water and Air dig deeper and deeper and find less and less of the precious gemstones that our society runs on. But magnagate technology could solve all of that. With the power to manipulate mystery dungeons, we could create faster travel for the supplies everymon needs, like the crisis on Air. We could mitigate the spread of dungeons, before they swallow up the towns we all live in. We could create controlled dungeons to mine enough emerastones to keep our power needs stable. This technology isn't just useful, it's necessary. And we do this world no service by shuttering it."

"And yet I might remind the court that this still holds no significance to the validity of a contract," Sparkleglimmer said. "You signed a paper. That paper bound you. There has been no fraud on the part of my company. HAPPI is well within its legal right to use or not use a patented technology as it sees fit. Therefore, your appeal holds no ground. Now either present something of legal significance, or concede to the court."

And worse, it looked like the court was agreeing. Scattered hushed whispers among the pokemon in the stalls below the quorum filled the room. A gathering that didn't want to be here, and a quorum that was probably bought off by HAPPI… they'd never had a chance in the first place. Ninetales sighed.

"All those in favor of ruling towards the defendants?"

Espeon and Umbreon's hearts sank as they were met with a room of near silence. Only a scant few paws, claws, and fins raised into the air.

"All those in favor of ruling towards the plaintiff?"

Nearly the entire room raised their appendages.

A bang of the gavel. "The court rules, once again, in favor of the Helping Adventurous Pokemon Prosper Institute," Ninetales said wearily. A quiet, formal applause filled the room.

~\({O})/~

"HAPPI will extend its offer for a settlement once again," the krookadile lawyer spoke to Espeon and Umbreon as pokemon filed out of the courtroom. "You've dragged this into court twice. Worth seeing some return on your troubles."

"We don't need a return," Espeon spat.

"We'll consider it and get back to you," Umbreon cut in.

The krookadile nodded. "The offer stands regardless of when."

He picked up his briefcase and began to walk off. How did he feel about defending HAPPI? The shades covering his eyes didn't reveal enough for Umbreon to tell.

"We didn't even have a fair chance in there," Espeon seethed as they walked down towards the serene garden sector of Cloud Nine. The sun was beginning to set over the mountains, casting the sky a shade of brilliant orange, and bathing the leaves of the hedges and the futuristic archways in a mystical glow.

"She just walked all over us. Cut us off mid-way, and acted all shady about a contract. Everymon knew it was out of turn and no-mon said anything! That nasty little—Uurrgh!"

"Calm down," Umbreon breathed. They both stopped next to the gate to the gardens, under the shade of a large hedge. Umbreon put his front paws on her shoulders. "Breathe. It's no use getting angry right now."

Espeon closed her eyes and breathed. Slowly, her ears that had been flattened against her head in anger went back up.

"…You're right," she finally said. "I… I shouldn't be getting this angry."

"We'll keep going," Umbreon reassured her. "Just because the courts sided with HAPPI doesn't mean that's the end. We'll make appointments. Every month. We'll send letters. Sooner or later she'll get tired of it. And that's when we strike."

"She'll never let us have it back," Espeon muttered. "Getting rid of us is like swatting a fly to her. We need something more. Something better."

"Like what?" Umbreon asked.

"The council members," Espeon said. "Everymon knows she's paying off half of them to get privileges for her company. We'll talk to them. Turn them against her."

"We couldn't get appointments with them," Umbreon reminded her.

"We'll get appointments," Espeon scoffed. "We're the most famous researchers on the entire Mist Continent; there must be something we can use to get there."

The gardens weren't empty. Every so often, a pokemon pushed by them into the hedges, and there were several more loitering about or going on their way in every which direction. Not a single one of them even spared a glance at Espeon or Umbreon. Umbreon sighed. It was too peaceful a sunset to waste worrying about things that were said and done for already.

"Let's worry about this tomorrow," he said. "We're on Cloud Nine- there must be something open."

"I think I saw a fish parlor just below-deck on our way up," Espeon said. "Smelled good."

"let's go there, then." Umbreon began to walk off towards the entrance to below-deck, and after he looked back to make sure she was keeping up, Espeon followed.

~\({O})/~

Director's Office

~Sparkleglimmer~

The engines of Cloud Nine hummed below deck, several floors down where the maintenance rooms were. Sparkleglimmer sat in her office, sifting through papers on her desk.

Pressing was the matter of the Water Continent Ambassador. He hadn't appeared at the trial, and the word she'd been trying to keep quiet was that he had recently gone missing out at sea along with his underling and his boat. Primarina was not and had never been honest, and he had his flippers in several different schemes that were netting him and his continent far more wealth than they would or should have had. But his way with words during tense times was a useful skill, and had earned him a fair amount of leeway from Sparkleglimmer—perhaps more than she should have allowed. Maybe somemon he'd gotten on the wrong side of had finally done him in.

Somewhat more pressing was a matter fresh from the printer involving a government ship at Noe Town. It had earned little more than a passing glance from her once she glazed the names; it looked like Team Anthem of Bittercold-slaying fame had taken the job posthaste.

But most urgent was the matter of the entercards. Those frauds from Sand had tried to patent the devices as their own discovery, thinking it was the answer to creating mystery dungeons and easing transportation. They couldn't understand less the true purpose of the entercards.

They didn't need to know.

They didn't need to know what those devices could do; they didn't need to discover the secret upon which all of modern pokemon society had been built. At all costs, Sparkleglimmer needed to keep that secret safe. Both for her, and for the Voice in the back of her head.

~\({O})/~

Music of the week!

A Gift For the Princess - Sonya Belousova, Giona Ostinelli